


Lament configuration

by myotishia



Series: In the rift [8]
Category: Torchwood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-22
Updated: 2019-04-22
Packaged: 2020-01-23 21:23:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,008
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18558136
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/myotishia/pseuds/myotishia
Summary: With things calming down Elise is given an alien puzzle box to try and solve.





	1. Puzzle box blues

Another quiet morning dawned. As Elise entered the hub she heard her boss call over.

“My office. Five minutes.”

“Yes sir.” She grinned, tucking her bag under her desk.

“What’s that about?” Asked Owen as he took off his coat.

“Not a clue. Can’t be bad though otherwise I wouldn’t get five minutes. Wish me luck.” She trotted into Jacks office and sat to wait. Seconds later he scooted in and closed the door behind him.

 

Sitting in his chair and leaning back, sipping his coffee, Jack began. “So.”

“So?”

“How did it go?”

“Captain Jack Harkness did you bring me in here just for gossip?”

“Not just for gossip.” He smirked over the rim of his mug. “But mostly gossip.”

“It went pretty damn well. We’re going to see how it goes. Owen made breakfast.”

“Really well then. Either way it’s out in the open at last.”

“And the other reason you called me in here?”

He sat forward and brought a box, about the size of a rubix cube, from his desk draw. It was ornately patterned in black and gold.

“A box?”

“It’s a puzzle box we think but no one’s ever been able to solve it. I thought you could give it a try with fresh eyes.”

“If your resident geniuses couldn’t solve it then what makes you think I have a shot?” She picked up the cube and turned it over in her hands.

“Everyone thinks differently, you might see something they didn’t. It’s one of a few we’ve found over the years. Some we can’t try and solve because human minds can’t handle the concept of a four dimensional object. What we can tell is that they seem to be made by the same person out of the same material, that we can’t scan though and can’t even break.”

“I’ll give it a go.” She nodded and headed out, still studying the cube.

**  
**Ianto handed Elise her morning coffee on the way out of Jacks office. “What’s going on today?” **  
**

“Why?”

“Owen thanked me… He’s never thanked me for anything.”

“He’s just in a good mood. We had a fun night.”

“Whatever happened it’s an improvement.” He looked down at the cube in her free hand. “The lament configuration. I thought after Tosh tried to crush it it was stored away permanently.”

“The what what? The box?”

“Hellraiser? The film?”

“Sorry, before my time. I’ll add it to the list of things I need to watch.”

“The puzzle box that opens a portal to hell in that film is called the lament configuration. Everyone gets so frustrated while trying to solve it I thought the name fit.”

She laughed. “Well, I’m not as smart as anyone else here so I’m not getting my hopes up.”

“I can give you a little head start. The corners all pull out so the layers can be moved.”

“Thanks. I thought I heard cogs moving when I turned it.”

“I hadn’t noticed.”

“Yea.” She placed down her mug and held up the box, slowly turning it. “Maybe it has some sort of gyroscope inside so certain moves only work if it’s the right way up. Let’s see if we…” she pulled two opposing corners and turned it by them. “The sound is different now. I’ll have to spend some time listening to it.” She picked up her drink again and palmed the box. “Thanks.” She beamed and trotted back to her desk.

 

Gwen leaned on Elise’s desk, watching her twist the puzzle box and test different configurations of buttons.

“Could you ask Owen if I can borrow a stethoscope? I can’t quite catch the click.” Elise asked, holding the item up to her ear.

“I can try. Owen’s possessive over his things.”

“You might be lucky today. He’s in the best mood right now.”

Gwen decided to give it a try. She guessed he’d be where he usually was and walked over to the autopsy bay. She looked over the railing to see Tosh sitting on his lap and laughing at something. Gwen cleared her throat and Tosh blushed, trotting away in embarrassment.

Owen looked up, still smiling as if he were very proud of himself for something. “What’s up?”

“Elise wanted to borrow a stethoscope to help with the cube but it looks like you’re busy.” She didn’t know what to say about what she’d seen, a million thoughts running through her head. .

“Oh yea. Here.” He kicked off, sliding across the room in his office chair, stopping himself with his heels at a set of draws. “Here. Tell her good luck. I never want to see that thing again.”

Gwen nodded and took the stethoscope, returning to Elises desk. “We should grab something for lunch later.”

“Huh? Sure, why not. It’s quiet this morning and I don’t think this’ll go anywhere.” Elise sat back away from the cube and pulled on her jacket. She waved at Tosh who still looked bright red. “Want anything while we’re out?”

“No. I’m fine. It’s your turn to cook dinner so you could look for that.”

“Cool. See you an a bit.” She blew a kiss as she followed Gwen out. Once on the street Gwen seemed to lose a little of the tenseness she was carrying.

“So… How are things between you two?” She asked uncomfortably.

“Good, why?”

“Well, when I walked in… Tosh was sitting on Owens lap and I’m not saying they were up to anything but it didn’t exactly look innocent.”

“Cheeky sods.” Elise laughed to Gwens utter astonishment.

“You’re not upset?”

“No. It would be pretty hypocritical if I was.”

Gwen stopped in her tracks, wondering if she was getting across what she was trying to say. “So you’re ok with them two fooling around while you and Tosh are dating?”

“Yep.”

“Am I missing something here? I didn’t know you had an open relationship.”

“We don’t. It just happens that the closed relationship has three members instead of two. It’s about time they stopped dancing around the issue anyway.”

“When did that happen?!” she squeaked out of surprise.

“Last night. I made sure they could sit down and talk things over. It’s kind of sweet, Owen wanted to take the idea to his grave until I convinced him otherwise.”

“The words Owen and sweet don’t usually appear in the same sentence and it was your idea?”

“Course it was. Those two nerds would have never said anything to each other. For all his bravado Owen’s just as socially awkward as the rest of us. Aren’t you relieved? I mean if this hadn’t been the case you would have had a whole host of drama to deal with.”

“I’m just… In shock I think. I’m used to Jack talking about that sort of thing and I’m never sure if I believe him or not.”

“You know what’s good for this kind of shock?”

“What?”

“Chocolate cake.”

 

Jack had shut himself in his office, trusting that the rest of the team were dealing with everything just fine. The presence of the earthquake machine bothered him. The time ripples had to grab the time agency’s attention and they weren’t fans of unlicensed time travellers. Since Jacks watch no longer worked to actively travel he’d been staying under their radar but if they were snooping around it might only be a matter of time. The rift usually covered the time anomalies but it didn’t cover the effect of changing the past. At least, to the best on his knowledge, Elise hadn’t time jumped since the pharm so she wasn’t glowing like a beacon to any passing agent. Well mostly. The security cameras still couldn’t pick up her right hand and if they were unlucky that would be spotted. He hoped the agency would assume they’d done their job and eliminated the problem. They were rarely that lucky.

He was pulled from his thoughts by a knock at his door.

“Come in.”

Ianto opened the door. “Elise brought cake if you want some. What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. I’ll be with you in a minute.”

“Jack…”

“Yes?”

“Your smile isn’t meeting your eyes.”

“Do you have to pay attention to everything?”

“I believe it’s in my contract, yes. It’s just below the small print that stops me poisoning Owen on a bi weekly basis.”

“I’m just concerned about the possibility of the time agency tracking me down.”

“We’ll deal with whatever happens when it happens. Frankly, if Owen could break time and space to save, not only, his own life but others then we can all handle an agency that couldn’t track you when you’ve been here for quite some time. Now come and have some cake before there’s nothing left.”  

 

The team sat in the boardroom where the cake had been demolished. Elise sat back in her chair with the cube, spinning it by the corners like a large fidget spinner. After each rotation it gave a satisfying clink.

Gwen was leaning on the table looking a little green.

“Too much cake?” Asked Owen.

“Sod off. I think I just picked up a bug somewhere.”

“How long for?” He asked with actual concern.  

She shrugged. “A few days. It’ll go just after lunch.”

Owen looked around the room to see if everyone else was thinking what he was. They were. Elise even put the cube down.

“So you get this sickness every morning?” He continued.

“Oh don’t start. I’m on the pill.”

“You might want to check anyway.”

Elise lent forward. “Yea. I heard that there was an issue with that type of birth control. There was so much in the water system that everyone’s bodies were getting used to it so it wasn’t working as it should. There were lawsuits and everything.”

Gwen looked up, a little nervous. “Seriously?”

“Yea. The pill was retired in 2026. It was replaced by these implants that can be turned on or off by a doctor. 100% effective.”

“Shit.”

Owen placed a hand on Gwens shoulder. “Come on. We can find out and if not I can see what’s really causing it.”

Gwen groaned but followed, kind of hoping it was just a virus. She couldn’t really hang up her life for a while to have a baby. How would she even bring up a child with her job as it was. What would Rhys think? Another wave of nausea hit her though likely more from stress.

The short wait felt like forever.

 

“Will we have to open a creche? I don’t think it’s possible to baby proof the hub.”  Ianto mused out loud.

“Gwen’ll just be on maternity leave for a while, though in the past parents haven’t returned to work because of the risk. I can’t blame them.” Said Jack, his mind wandering to his own family.

Tosh was pacing, thinking about the possibilities for herself. She sat down close to Elise. “You have one of those implants, don’t you?”

“Yea. Since I was eighteen. It’s the earliest you can get it because it puts your reproductive system into a sort of stasis.”

“Any idea how it works?”

“Not a clue but we might be able to reverse engineer one. If Gwen isn’t pregnant then she’ll probably be interested too.”

“I can’t imagine what she must be feeling right now. A baby just throws your whole life upside down.”

“Yea, but she has Rhys. I’m sure he’d be ecstatic.”

“Have you ever thought about having kids?”

Elise shook her head. “No way. If my mum was anything to go by I should never have kids. What about you?.”

“I don’t have time for children and I don’t think I could stay away from work. It’s the Torchwood curse. Normal stops being a thing.”

“There’s a thought, what would my power even do if I got pregnant?”

“That doesn’t bare thinking about.”

 

Gwen tensed up waiting for the result that felt as if it was taking forever when only seconds had passed. Negative.

“Oh thank god.” She almost collapsed, relieved.

“You always looked the type to want kids.”

“I do, just not right now. I can’t bring a baby into all this. At least now I can change my birth control before I get caught out. Of course the pill wouldn’t work with all the radiation and crap we end up covered with.”

“I’m surprised this is the first scare we’ve had. With Jack alone we should have had them once a week.”

“Says you.”

“I’m very careful thank you very much.” He sat down in his wheely chair.

“What about this new relationship you’ve got going?”

“I’m not the dad type. I’m the drunk uncle that doesn’t get invited to family parties anymore type. They know that.”

“Yea and that was a shock.”

“Same here if I’m honest, but fuck, why not? The world could end tomorrow. Last real relationship I had was before I even joined Torchwood. Maybe it’s been long enough.”

“What happened?”

“She died.”

Gwens face fell. “Oh god Owen, I’m sorry.”

“You didn’t know. I didn’t want to move on really but… When you could be crushed any second by a tonne of concrete you start to look at your life differently. Plus the other Owen was a better man than I’ve ever been. He’s the one Elise fell for originally so I’ve got to live up to that now.”

“You and him are different people.”

“I know, but he’s who I could have been.”

“What, dead?”

He laughed softly. “You should go up and give everyone the news. They’re probably waiting with bated breath.”

“After this long I think they would have suffocated.”

 

Four pairs of eyes watched the door as it opened.

“It’s negative, thank god.”

There was a collective sigh of slight disappointment.

“Oh thanks.”

Jack smiled. “We’re happy you’re happy but a pregnancy’s exciting.”

“I know.” She waved him off.     

        

C#, F#, E, D, B, F#, C#, B… Each correct movement of the box made a note, only audible with a little help. G#, F#, click. The top of the box popped up and turned 90 degrees, creating an eight pointed star, followed by three other layers. The whole thing then flattened to about half its height, but in the new configuration. It looked completely different than it had but no less beautiful. The surface seemed to have taken on shapes similar to symbols. Writing maybe? She couldn’t tell at first.

 

Then she saw a very familiar one. She stood suddenly and excitedly carried it to find Ianto. He nearly jumped out of his skin as she trotted up to him.

“I got further with the box.”

He looked at the puzzle in surprise. “How did you solve it?”

“It was a music puzzle. It was too quiet for human ears to naturally hear it so I used a stethoscope to work it out. I don’t think it’s solved yet though so I need that book with all the symbols in.”

“I’ll grab it for you and bring it over, just wait for me to get back before you show anyone else.”

“Why?”

“I want to see their reactions.”

Elise laughed at his smug smile, knowing how it had frustrated everyone.

 


	2. A risky move

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When is a puzzle box not just a puzzle.

“What? It was that simple?” Tosh huffed.

“Yea. The corners came out to start it. The centre button on the side with the sun image reset the whole thing. After that it was just trial and error, I wasn’t really paying attention to what I was doing just keeping an ear out for the musical notes. Now I just need to find out what the symbols mean. Usually a multi levelled puzzle box would change the mechanics as you work through the layers, otherwise it would be too easy.” Elise shrugged, turning the box over in her hands. It was satisfying just to hold but it did make the back of her hand itch.

Ianto opened the hefty book to the correct page.

“You know the top one. The bottom one is another composite that’s a little like midday. Top right is sunrise. Top left is sunset. Bottom left is midnight. Left is morning. Bottom right is evening and the right one is afternoon. It might be an easy one, just putting the times of day in order.” Said Ianto and he studied the tiny writing.

“Sweet. Whatever’s inside must be tiny otherwise this thing would never be able to move.”

“If it’s only three dimensional.”

“True.”

“I’d only work on it while you’re here just in case.”

“Will do. Odd for the first layer to be so much more difficult than the second though.”

“That depends on your point of view. Our days are linear, theirs might not be so it would be harder to work out the cycle.”

“Are you telling me to think outside the box?”

“I would never make such a bad pun.”

“You’re an awful lier, you know that?”

Ianto smiled and closed the book ready to take it back to the archives.

 

Later that night Elise felt bad not being able to continue the puzzle, having managed to get the symbols in the right order but to no effect, so she was trying to keep her mind on other things. Looking at her laptop she couldn’t avoid the proverbial elephant in the room. Her Owens letter to her. It sat on her desktop, unread. She’d lost count of how many times she’d hovered the mouse pointer over it and wimped out at the last minute. She couldn’t avoid it forever, how ever much she kept telling herself she could. She double clicked and flinched away as if it was going to scream at her. Nothing happened, obviously. She made sure that Owen and Tosh were busy watching TV after dinner and snuck off to the bedroom alone. She took a deep breath and began.

‘If you’re reading this I’m already gone and if I didn’t get to say goodbye I’m sorry. I didn’t want to leave you but I guessed you’d be fine with the team. If you can still jump like I think you’ll be able to you might need Jacks help. The watch I had used to belong to him. It was used by the time agency but it was deactivated. Thankfully this time he won’t have to give it up. Things will likely change a lot from this point onward so I won’t bore you with the details of my timeline. I made Jack do that. I’m sorry I put so much on your shoulders, but if it helps you handled it better than I ever expected. I’m sure by now you’re wondering what that symbol is/was on the back of your hand. It was fairy made as far as I know. I found many instances of it over time and had forever to look into it. Its most basic meaning is time, specifically the rout the fay use to travel. It’s a link to that place. If you’re ever in dire need of it you can push others out of time and into the fays hands by cutting it into their skin, but it’s a last resort. When you were marked with it you were marked with death meaning no one being can claim you. It’s like diplomatic immunity for inter-dimensional beings.

It’s funny, even though we’ve known each other for a relatively short time this is the hardest letter for me to write. You’re the first person in so long that looks at me as if they’re happy to see me. As if I’m wanted. When I first died I felt completely useless. I was in the same position as you were when you met me. I jumped but of course the dead can’t die. I felt broken and hopeless. Then I found things only I could do. It gave me hope. If you ever feel like that again I want you to hold onto the amazing things you’ve already done and the potential things you could do. Hold onto that hope. I’m proud of you.

Make sure my past self doesn’t push everyone away. He’s a dick like that.

Take care of all of them, they never see what’s right under their noses.

Owen.’

Tears dripped down onto the keyboard and Elise let out the breath she’d been holding. She closed the lid and set it aside, curling up with a pillow wrapped in her arms.

 

Entering the Hub the next morning something felt off somehow. Jack was nowhere to be seen but hadn’t left any kind of note. It didn’t sit right. Ianto had left early that morning and had no idea where his captain had gone. He travelled back immediately knowing that something wasn’t right. The moment he stepped into the Hub it went into lock down.

Six figures emerged from the shadows, weapons pointed at the team. Looking at the people surrounding them it became clear who they were. Each one wore the same watch that Jack had. The time agency.

A stern looking woman stepped forward. “Alright, we don’t want to fight you but you’ve been working for a known criminal and we can’t allow you to continue.”

“Where’s Jack?” Owen growled, keeping his hands up.

“That’s what we want to know. That’s why we have this place sealed tight. Apparently he’s picked up some new techniques since we last met but it won’t be long until we have him under arrest. The neurotoxin should be kicking in by now. I wanted to kill him myself but a kill is a kill.” The woman shrugged, dusting off the sleeve of her jacket.

Ianto looked at the floor and asked what everyone wished they weren’t thinking. “And us?”

“We have two options. We could kill you or wipe your memories clean. Either way I like your little setup here. I think an agency outpost could be useful here.”

“So either way we’re fucked.” Owen stated flatly.

“A primitive way of putting it but yes. Don’t be too scared, we’ll make it quick. We just wanted to confirm your captains elimination first.” She took a seat at Elises desk, poking the puzzle box. “What is this?” She lifted it up to the light and Elise could see the underside. It almost looked like a musical score. The notes.

“If this works we have to get down quick.” She breathed, just loud enough for the team to hear. She had to take their silence as agreement.

C#, F#, E, D, B, F#, C#, B, G#, F#, she hummed, the box making a very loud grinding sound in the time agents hands. They seemed to be in a trance, watching the centre of the box open. At first there was nothing but then she began to choke, water welling up from her lungs. She fell from the chair and onto her knees, a green skinned, winged, figure hunched over her. The area exploded in gunfire as the other time agents tried to shoot the previously imprisoned fairy.

The team took the opportunity to put the agents down, three shot and the last two at the dimension travellers mercy. Mercy it did not have. Owen looked over to Gwen, Tosh and Ianto.

“Go find Jack. We’ll deal with this.”

There was no time to argue, not knowing if the time agency had sent others.

The fairy let them go without paying them any attention but looked over at Elise with fascination. Its voice seemed to echo from all around and sounded like a small child.

“Free. I’m free.” Its wings twitched. “You set me free. My song you called. Human, not one of us.”

“I’m not, but we’re closer than you think. We’re neighbours.”

“What do you want for freeing me?”

“These six people.”

“Yes.” It blinked and tilted its head.

“Erase them from existence. If the time agency knows they died here they’ll send more.”

Multiple voices giggled around them.

“That is all you wish?”

“Yes.”

The fairy grinned, showing sharp, yellowed, teeth. It disappeared in a spiral of dead leaves taking the bodies with it.

“The fuck was that?!” Owen exclaimed, eyes wide.

“I read my Owens letter last night. The time symbol is linked to the fairies. What better to trap a fairy than a puzzle? It was a risk but I had to take it.”

“Don’t mess with those things. They are so far beyond us.” He shook his head, still in shock about what he’d just seen.

“I won’t, but those guys had no trigger discipline so I didn’t think we had more than a few minutes.”

“Let’s just go.” He pulled himself together, calling out to the others over comms. “What’s happening out there?”

 

Ianto had never been a fan of actually having to fight. It wasn’t that he didn’t have the brute strength or that he didn’t know how, it was just not in his nature. Sadly life didn’t always allow for peaceful resolution and this was one of those situations. His knuckles were stinging after knocking one of the time agents out, removing their watch so they couldn’t escape when they came round. What he was a fan of was the weevil bands that made sure the agent would be going nowhere. Down the hallway he heard a struggle and saw Gwen tackling another agent to the floor. It was sometimes easy to forget that she had once been a police officer.

“How many more of you are there?” She shouted, 100% done with the whole situation.

The man pinned to the floor refused to reply. It wasn’t a surprise but it was annoying.

It was then that they heard Owens voice asking what was going on.

Ianto replied. “We found two more. The fairy…”

“It’s gone. Catch who you can, we can retcon them after… Any sign of Jack?”

“Tosh is with him. He was in bad shape. I don’t know what they did to him.”

“I’m on my way.”

 

Jack was hunched over on the floor. He’d come back from death already but for some reason his body hadn’t completely reset like it should have. He was still weak and his vision kept fading. Tosh held his hand, keeping an eye on the door and trying to keep him safe.

“I was worried about you.” He said, leaning back against the wall. “Guess I didn’t need to be.”

“We were lucky… The puzzle box had a fairy inside.”

He cringed as he tensed up, a sour ache shooting through his body. “Damn.”

“It didn’t attack us, just them. I don’t know why but it did… You’re burning up.”

“I always got a fever whenever I was sick as a kid. It’s been a long time.”

“You never talk about your childhood. After all the stories you’ve told us you’ve never said a thing about your family.”

“We weren’t any different than any other family. Mom, dad… My little brother. He was lost when he was small. I lost my grip on his hand and… I never saw him again. It hurts too much to think about… I’m not good with kids.”

“I’m sure that’s not true.”

“It is. My daughter hates me. I can’t blame her, it’s not as if I was ever around. She has a kid of her own now. A little boy. He thinks I’m his uncle.”

“It’s not your fault. You can’t really hold a family together in this line of work. You should visit them.”

“She wouldn’t want that. They’re better off without me. I don’t know why they didn’t move away a long time ago.”

Tosh shook her head and squeezed his hand softly. “Jack… Why haven’t you ever said anything?”

“If I don’t talk about it I don’t have to think about it. I’ve had to leave so much behind. If I think too much about it…” He looked away and closed his eyes.

Tosh gently pulled him into a hug, his skin dangerously warm. He passed away for the second time as Owen stepped in through the door.

 

The doctor carefully helped get Jack to the autopsy bay, collecting some blood to find out what was going on. The neurotoxin was replicating itself inside Jacks bloodstream. Every time his body reset even a few molecules left over would rapidly spread and rebuild. It needed to be wiped out completely at the molecular level. He couldn’t just let Jack keep dying over and over. As the captain took a deep gasp and opened his eyes Owen turned.

“Jack. Listen, I can fix this but I need time… I won’t force you but instead of letting you die again I could put you on ice.”

He looked pained. “Do it.”

Owen sprang into action and gave Jack a large dose of sedatives to help make him as comfortable as possible. It would be tough without their leader but it had to be done.

As soon as he was safely hidden away Tosh realised something.

“Owen?”

“Yea?”

“Wasn’t Elise with you?”

 

Elise had been but in a moment of commotion she found herself pulled back, a hand held tightly over her mouth. There was nowhere for her to move to as her arms were pulled behind her back. Whoever it was was gripping so hard she swore she could actively feel her skin bruising.

“I’m going to move my hand and if you scream I’ll break your arm.” A gravelly voice said, only an inch or so away from her ear. It sounded odd, like when you have dental work and half of your face is still numb. He did as he said and took his hand from over her mouth. A sharp point was pressed against her back.

“Walk.”

She complied, not wanting to get stabbed but trying to think of how she was going to escape.

“Who are you?” She said softly, not wanting to anger this guy.

“Me? Your good captain never mentioned his brother. Of course he didn’t. After all he did this to me.” He turned her around violently, slamming her back against a wall. She looked up to see a man that did have a resemblance to Jack, but it was hard to tell beneath the damage. Half of his face had been horribly burned and mangled, one eye completely gone, the flesh around his mouth exposed and infected.

“What do you want?” She squeaked out, her voice stolen by the sight.

“I want my brother to suffer. Those time agents should have arrested him but no, they had to kill him right away. Or that’s what they said. I don’t think that’s true and you’re my ticket to seeing him.”

“Ok. And where are you taking me?”

“We’re going to look for him. You’re going to walk ahead of me and if you try and run I’m going to cut you into pieces.”

She nodded and let him lead her towards the main area of the hub.

 

Tosh and Ianto were quickly scanning every camera in the hub now the captured agents were safely stored down in the cells. Gwen was keeping watch and Owen was keeping busy trying to cure Jack. If he wasn’t doing something he’d be pulling out his hair.

Tosh had rewound the footage to follow Owen’s path and pinpoint when Elise was separated from him. It happened in seconds but the heavy shadows covered what exactly had happened. Moving through the footage she did see Elise getting thrown around and the glint of a blade in her attackers hand, but she could tell that Elise was a hostage which meant she could be rescued.

“They’re heading this way. Ely is being held at knifepoint so we need to keep things calm.”

Gwen agreed. “You both should stay out of sight. I’ll try and talk him down.”

They agreed, Gwen had more experience talking people out of tense situations.

She made herself visible as not to surprise the man and have him lash out and made sure that he couldn’t see she was armed. She wanted to look as inoffensive and calm as she could.

Elise entered first, keeping her nerve and looking right ahead. The moment Grey saw Gwen he pulled Elise close and held the blade against her throat. She could smell a mix of infection and dust on him that turned her stomach.

“Woah, woah. I just want to talk. I’m Gwen. Can I ask your name?”

“Grey. Where’s my brother? Where is Jack?”

“I can find out I just need you to lower the knife. Elise is innocent.”

“I’ll lower it when he’s in front of me, otherwise I’m going to start bleeding her out.”

Elise could feel the blade cutting into her skin slightly.

“We don’t need to do that Grey. We can do this without anyone getting hurt.”

He smiled, or what his face could manage that could have been a smile. “You’re talking as if I’m doing this just to see my dear brother. The thing is, from what I pulled from John he really seems to care about you. I want him here so he can see you all di-”

His words were caught short by a bullet travelling clean through his head. The knife fell and clattered to the floor. Turning to where the bullet had come from Tosh stood, hands shaking. Ianto placed his hand over hers.

“It’s ok. It’s over.” He soothed, taking her gun from her hands.

Gwen automatically went to check on Elise and move her from the scene, she did it without thinking.

“I’m fine. Where’s Jack?” Elise asked, rubbing at the small cut on her neck.

Everyone’s grim expressions said more than their words could. She looked round at Owen who had jumped up when he heard the gunshot. He was relieved in a way but he knew how much work he had ahead of him.

“Owen’s working on helping him.” Gwen said, a hand on Elises clean shoulder.

“And the time agency?”

“The last two are in the cells.”

“Think I can go and shower?”

She laughed softly. “Yea, I think so.”

“I’ll be right back.” She turned to smile over at Tosh who was calming down.

 

When Elise returned, wearing the shorts and tee-shirt that she had stored in her locker, the body was gone along with any evidence it had ever been there. Ianto was walking past with a folded camp bed on his shoulder.

“Are we still locked in?” she asked.

“Hmm? No, this is for Owen. When he’s got a project he’s having trouble with he doesn’t sleep unless there’s somewhere to collapse next to him. It’s happened before. He likely won’t eat either.”

“Anything I can do to help?”

“Just remind him once in a while and don’t get too upset if he gets snappy.”

“I’ll keep that in mind. Want me to take that? You look like you should put some ice on that hand.”

He thought for a moment then handed the camp bed over, his hand pulsing. “I will.”

She smiled softly and carried off the bed to see Owen. He was sat putting together test samples and hadn’t even acknowledged her.

“Brought you somewhere to sleep.”

“Hmm.”

“I’ll come and check on you later, ok?”

“Mmhmm.”

“I’ll leave you to concentrate then.”

“Hmm.”

She doubted he’d even absorbed anything she’d said or remember she’d even been there. It was worrying but there was nothing she could do about it. Just standing there wouldn’t help. She turned and left to join the others.

“What now?” She asked, sitting next to Tosh.

No one really knew if they were honest. With Jack unavailable and Owen having to put every bit of his concentration into his research it left them without definite leadership.

Gwen took a deep, calming, breath. “Right. We can’t just sit here. What happened to the agents that were up here?”

“The fairy took them. I’m guessing by now you can’t remember what they look like.” Elise said, wrapping her arm around her girlfriend’s shoulders.

It was true, she couldn’t. None of them could. The memory itself was hazy at best, like a half remembered dream.

“Well the ones in the cells are going to be a problem. What happened to their watches?”

“They’re sealed in a lead lined container for now. Nothing should be able to track them.” The usual protocol for anything that could give off any kind of signal. Ianto liked working by the book.

“We should probably carry on as normal while Jack is… out of action. At least for now.”

 

For the next three days Gwen was the only one who went home. The Hub felt as if something was missing. It just felt wrong in there somehow. Owen was quickly burning out, having had a total of four hours sleep since he began and the others were considering sedating him. There was no way he could progress if he could barely see. Tosh had said it was only fair to give him a chance to take a break by choice. Elise volunteered to tell him.

“Owen?”

“Hmm?”

“Come on, time to take a shower and a nap.”

“In a minute.”

“You said that six hours ago. You can’t work if you can’t even keep your hands steady and you’re seeing things from sleep deprivation.”

“Just… A minute.”

“You’ll be better after a break. Jack’s in stasis, he’s comfortable, he can wait for you to rest.”

“I can’t… I need to-”

“You need to take a shower. If you won’t take a break we’re going to just sedate you.”

He wanted to shout but he just didn’t have the energy. She was right, he just wished she wasn’t. He turned his chair and tried to stand on legs that had gone to sleep, stumbling. She caught him and helped him to the showers. The water felt nice, helping to clear his thoughts. He’d spent so many hours staring at the same thing that it had stopped making any sense. He needed a way to isolate the neurotoxin with something that it couldn’t break down. It destroyed everything he’d tried, leaving it to multiply out of control. He couldn’t even switch off its ability to multiply. Whoever had created this toxin/virus hybrid knew what they were doing. He just needed to neutralise the toxin. It sounded so easy but it was so new to him.

“You’re mumbling to yourself. I was wondering if getting a pure version of the toxin would help so Ianto’s gone searching to see what he can find. We didn’t think they’d only have one dose on them but we couldn’t find anything in the stuff we confiscated.”

“Nothing?”

“Nope.”

“Nothing at all?”

“No, why?”

“I should have known… Of course.”

“Of course what?”

“I couldn’t find a way that it could be introduced to the body and survive the resurrection process. But if it was dormant in his body before he gained the ability to resurrect then it would just start attacking all over again. The best soldiers always have some kind of killswitch. The toxin is like a biological computer. I just need to switch it off somehow.”

“Told you a break would do you good.”

“How long until you’re going to sedate me?”

“You have two hours then you have to get some sleep.” She sighed and handed him a towel.

 

One hour and thirty two  minutes in and he had it with the help of a few fibres from the bio computer that was integrated into the Torchwood system, he had it. He could make the toxin essentially self destruct. The next time Jack had to resurrect it would immediately destroy itself. The rest of the team heard a sudden increase in movement and came to investigate. Owen had an almost manic smile on his face as he pulled out the draw that held Jack, his body fighting off the cold very quickly. Before he regained consciousness Owen injected the modified viral controller into his arm. They all waited, silently, until Jack opened his eyes. He looked fatigued but not in pain.

“Jack? How do you feel?” Asked Owen.

“Cold… I don’t feel like death anymore… You did it.”

“I always do.” He grinned before the strength left his body. Ianto dashed forward to catch the exhausted medic before he hit his head on the floor.

Jack looked confused, sitting up and rubbing his neck. “How long was I out?”   

“Three days.” Ianto said as he lay Owen on the camp bed.

“I’ll have to ask him what they did to me once he’s rested up. Speaking of which , what happened to them?”

“It’s complicated.”

The captain side eyed his staff as they clearly had something they didn’t want to say. “How about we have a meeting while Owen’s resting.”

 

“Ok. I understand how that all went, but no one’s mentioned how Elise got that cut across her throat or the bruises on her arms.” Jack stated after hearing what had happened to all the time agents. Elise pulled her sleeves down and kind of hoped that her foundation fully covered the fading bruises on her cheek. A long silence followed before Gwen decided to just rip the proverbial bandaid off.

“She was taken hostage by a man who said he was your brother.”

Jacks eyes widened.

“We don’t know if that’s true. It could have been a con, but… He wanted to see you…”

“Where is he?”

“Jack… He wanted to see you to kill us all in front of you. He wasn’t in his right mind.”

“You had to …”

“Yes.”

“Is he in the morgue?”

“He is… But you need to know even at first glance he was a mess.”

“Gwen-”

“No, listen… Half of his face was missing. If you think you can’t cope with that then just let it go.” She wasn’t trying to be cruel but seeing a family member in that state could poison every single memory you had of them.

Jack nodded slowly. He understood, but part of him needed to know. Just maybe not right away.   


End file.
